1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exposure apparatus that exposes a substrate, and a device manufacturing method.
2. Background Art
In an exposure apparatus used in a photolithography process, which is one of the manufacturing processes of microdevices such as semiconductor devices and liquid crystal display devices, an exposure apparatus that exposes a photosensitive substrate with a pattern image of a mask is used. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. S61-161718 discloses a technique related to an exposure apparatus which uses a plurality of masks to process a plurality of substrates in parallel.
Incidentally, it is demanded for the exposure apparatus to process the substrate with high throughput. When improvement of the throughput is aimed for by processing respective substrates in parallel by using a plurality of masks, the plurality of masks need to be prepared, which may invite a cost increase due to preparation of the plurality of masks, and hence, an increase in the manufacturing cost of the microdevices.
A purpose of some aspects of the invention is to provide an exposure apparatus and a device manufacturing method, which can improve the throughput while suppressing cost.